SIM verification meant to cushion the sector

The Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) yesterday once again started a process to limit the number of SIM cards per subscriber to five as part of a raft of measures to control abuse of the utility.

Amid increasing fraud leveraging mobile phones, Director-General Ezra Chiloba said the proposal is part of a review of regulations in the information, communications and technology (ICT) sector being pushed by the Ministry of ICT, Youth Affairs and Innovation. A task force was gazetted early this month to take care of the obligation, he said.

“The issue of capping SIM cards will be determined by the regulations if we get there at all. We suggested 5, some people pushed us back, we don’t know how it will pan out,” said Chiloba of a process that will be subjected to public participation.

The regulator has also called on the service providers to frequently update records within seven days whenever there is a change to the particulars. Concerns abound that some SIM cards are being sold using other people’s ID cards, National Social Security Fund (NSSF)cards or student identification cards.

Mobile phone crimes

CA attempted to cap sim card ownership in 2016 by limiting individual subscribers to a maximum of 10 active sim cards, as part of a drive to curb mobile phone crimes.

Experts reckon the appetite for owning multiple sim cards is driven by the need to access affordable data prices, enjoy good connectivity speeds and signal strength from the different operators, who often tailor make their pre-paid sim card registration processes to achieve more sales.

Speaking yesterday at a press conference to clarify issues on the current verification exercise that ends on Friday this week, Chiloba who was flanked by Telkom Kenya chief executive Mugo Kibati, Airtel Kenya’s Prasanta Sarma and Safaricom’s chief of risk management Nicholas Mulila said those who will not have verified their sim cards will be disconnected.

The exercise is likely to affect among others, thousands of small businesses that rely on the internet to sell their products and services. Safaricom and Airtel have so far verified 65 per cent (24 million) and 52 per cent of their subscribers respectively. Improper verification will attract an Sh300,000 fine per sim card for the operators, the DG said.

“Our numbers are not that different from our colleagues in terms of compliance levels, but our target is to get 100 per cent compliant by mid this month,” said Telkom Kenya chief executive Mugo Kibati, who refused to divulge the percentage verification for his company.

CA’s quarter one data sector report between July to September 2021 shows the number of active SIM cards stood at 64.9 million. Safaricom is dominant with 65 per cent of the market share followed by Airtel at 27 per cent and Telkom Kenya with 5.6 per cent.